Bike Ride to Mosquero

Clayton to Mosquero: 91.3 miles

Total mileage: 2181.1

As we start to head into the heat we will be getting up earlier to try and get into the host sooner. This morning we had a 4am wake up call, 4:30 bins out and a 5:45 departure time from our host. Now 4 am seems a bit early, bu thankfully we were just coming off Central time so it was really like getting up at 5. Sadly none of these pictures do the vista any justice.

The morning air was, dare I say it, a bit chilly and the perfect tempature to get things going. Nate and I were riding as a duo and pretty much flew through the first 28 miles of our ride. The scenery was wonderful, the sun was coming up over the planes, good conversation, pretty good roads, some wildlife ... Pretty much everything you could hope for and more in a morning ride.

One of the nice things about being out so far is that there is little to no cell phone/3G service which means no distractions.

One of the reasons we were crushing it was because today we hit the official 2000 mile mark. Now you may be asking yourself, Emily didn't you do that a couple days ago? While my personal milege hit 2000 today the group hit the 2000 mile mark as per our Bike and Build website. Marcus and Ben hit the road early with the hopes of reaching the marker and leaving some awsome chalk. It was EPIC.

The ride to first and second lunch was pretty chill; a bit of wind, but nothing awful. We did have a coasting contest to see who could coast down the furthers without peddling down the hills - it is the little things to pass the time.

All day we had been building up to a big hill climb. The plateau we had climbed up all day would drop into a valley and then we would have to climbs up to the same elevation. I had prepared for the worst thinking that the 700 foot climb would be 6-7 percent over 7 miles, but it turned out only to be over 2.5 which was nice. I did stop a couple of times to get some pictures and rest my legs a bit. The best was that before the last quarter of a mile a couple of people had chalked and were changing a flat and cheering as we slowly made our way up the final part of the hill.

From the top of the hill we had about eight miles to go, but we were all super pumped and ready to get into the host. What was getting us there was the hopes of a shower, snack and a nap. As we rolled into town we saw a coffee shop and decided to abandoned all plans and get coffee. Sadly it was not open, but I did get to see some great murals and we all know how much I love a good mural.

After dinner a bunch of us headed up to the roof to watch the sunset. One of the best ways to wrap up the day is to hang out with some people on the roof of your host, chat about the day, how surreal life is and how you wish you could just do this forever.